Outer Banxious

The original plan was to leave around 5 am on Saturday, June 15. A couple weeks prior to vacation we decided to leave at midnight and drive through the night. On Friday, June 14, I spent my morning talking with coworkers about vacation. By lunch I was really anxious to get on the road. I texted Duane to see what he thought about leaving earlier. He was just as anxious. As soon as I got home, we got packed and were on the road by 4:30. We drove until about midnight, stopping in Winchester, Virginia, for the night.


Saturday morning, we left early planning to stop in Williamsburg to eat at Capitol Pancake House. After traffic delays from Richmond down to Williamsburg, we made it to Capitol in time for lunch. On our way into the Outer Banks, we stopped at Morris Farm Market for yummy fruits and vegetables. Every time we stop at Morris, we take pictures of Allie and Will on the tractor. We made it to our rental house by 4:30. It was a nice house that had a great view of the sound.



Sunday, we headed down to Ocracoke. We had lunch at Howard's Pub (one of our favorite restaurants), drove by the Ocracoke lighthouse, drove up Howard street and passed Tow Mater. Then, FINALLY, we went to the beach.


Monday, we drove north to the town of Duck. We visited a couple of stores and discovered that a boardwalk had been installed along the sound. We took a little nature walk. Duane saw something moving in the water and started taking pictures. As the object moved closer to the boardwalk we saw that it was a river otter. Duane was able to make out that the otter had a crab in its mouth.




Tuesday, we headed south to the Pea Island Nature Preserve. Once again our turtle friends met us at the bridge. We counted over 20 turtles. We walked about halfway up the trail and saw only ibis. It was hot and not much breeze/wind to keep us cool so we decided to head back to the visitors center. On the porch is a display of a variety of items you will find on the beaches. Duane picked up this dried out skate--a relative of the stingray. I think it looks funny because of its lips sticking out.



On to Bodie Island Lighthouse. This is our favorite lighthouse. Five years ago, the base was open and we were able to go in. Soon after the decision was made to restore the lighthouse. This past April, the lighthouse was opened for the first time for the public to climb. This was something that Duane was looking forward to doing. When we got to the lighthouse we found out that the next few tours had been sold out. Duane bought tickets for the last tour of the day. We then headed to Manteo to have lunch at Big Al's. Late afternoon we headed back to the lighthouse. Will did not want to climb so I stayed on the ground with him while Duane and Allie climbed. It was very windy and we had heard that one of the groups did not get to go out on the gallery because of it. Luckily, that wasn't the case for Duane and Allie. In this picture they are standing in the middle (Duane has on a black shirt and Allie has on a blue shirt). Allie did say that she felt like she would be blown off.


June 19--HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE! She is now 14! We started the day at the Aquarium. This has always been one of our favorite places to go but this time there were so many people that we didn't stay very long. We then went to Elizabethan Gardens. The flowers were amazing--especially the hydrangeas. They were in bloom throughout the gardens in all different colors.

In the evening we went for a cruise on the sound. Always a good time.

Thursday was a beautiful day. We went to the Wright Brothers Memorial and then spent a few hours on the beach.

Friday came much too soon. We didn't go back to the beach to swim because there were beach hazard warnings for rip currents. We played putt-putt golf in the morning (Allie made hole-in-one on two holes!), hit a few more stores, then went back to the house to start getting our things organized and packed for the trip back home.

For dinner that evening we went to Miller's Waterfront Restaurant. Allie had Mahi Mahi, Will had a cheeseburger (couldn't get him to try any seafood during the week except shrimp) and Duane and I got a platter that included scallops, shrimp and crab. All of it was very good. After dinner we did go to Coquina Beach to take pictures of the ocean and to collect more shells. Because of the strong currents, the waves crashing on the shore were absolutely beautiful.